No Survivors [Hardcover]

The Accident Man is even more Bourne-esque in this sequel that even finds him suffering from memory loss. There are better action set-pieces this time around, and even if the plot concerns the end of the world, things are more palatable and entertaining without the creepy premise of the first book. In fact, this series can't seem to decide if it's real-world gritty or more light-hearted. If it's the former, than let's let up on some of the romantic relationship subplot going forward.

If you have read THE ACCIDENT MAN by Tom Cain, feel free to skip the next sentence if you like. If you haven't had that pleasure, however, you might want to buy a copy along with NO SURVIVORS, the riveting and most worthy sequel, block off a weekend and read both of them in one long pleasurable gulp.

After a quick but important prologue, NO SURVIVORS picks up precisely where THE ACCIDENT MAN left off --- in September 1997, with Samuel Carver's mind and body shattered as the result of the significant injuries he incurred near the book's conclusion. For the unfamiliar, Carver is the "accident man" of the title, an assassin for hire who is skilled in ushering a specific target down along the road of death. He is best known for making the demise of his targets appear to be accidents; it is on his most notorious assignment that he met Alix Petrova, his devoted lover, who herself is a former Russian spy. Carver, though, may never return to his former trade, or to any trade for that matter. At the beginning of NO SURVIVORS he is but a husk of the man he was, a physical and psychological wreck trapped in his own body, minimally recuperating over a three-month period in a Swiss sanitarium.

But when Petrova is forced back to work with her former employers, it, along with an assassination attempt, jolts Carver back to life and toward a crossroads that will eventually bring him to an unforeseen reunion with Petrova. It seems the Russians have seeded the world with over 100 nuclear "suitcase bombs," and a list of the locations and codes for the bombs has fallen into the wrong hands. Waylon McCabe, a Texas billionaire, wants the list to locate and procure one of the bombs in order to ignite a cataclysm that in turn will hasten the Final Days. He enlists Kurt Vermulen for this quest.

Vermulen, a former general, heads up a strategic consulting firm and is convinced that the world, particularly the United States, is the target of an Islamist jihad and a willing accomplice to McCabe's mission, for secular rather than religious reasons. When Russian intelligence gets wind of McCabe's plans, a brilliant scheme is implemented to insert Petrova into Vermulen's life. The presence of Petrova brings Carver into the mix as well, resulting in a destructive battle and an ironic --- and enigmatic --- conclusion that resonates with and haunts the reader long after the last words are read.

Tom Cain is brilliant. Within a short period, he has established himself as an intelligent writer whose addictive characterizations populate a plot with equal parts action and drama, shaken and stirred into a cinematic narrative that literally explodes off of the printed page. One gets the feeling from reading this book and its predecessor that Cain is just getting started on his literary journey and that the best of what he has plotted out is yet to come. Anyone reading NO SURVIVORS will be waiting for the next Accident Man novel with baited breath.

Although Tom Cain's 'No Survivor's' is a freestanding work of it's own, I suggest that you start with The Accident Man first, to really get the full effect from the writer of this jam-packed action series. Not only will reading TAM allow the characters to evolve before your very eyes, but the entire concept of the first novel will make you sit up and think about things.

Then on to No Survivor's...this book takes up where TAM leaves off and is a real page turner, from start to finish. I can't WAIT for the third book!

What lengths Samuel Carver will go to to save his girl and take out the bad guys!

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